En route Port Harcourt ~ Creative Non-fiction #26
It was my first time in Port Harcourt. A city is known for notorious thugs. On that very day, I went to the park to board a God is Good Motor that will take me straight to PH as Port Harcourt is popularly known. My fiancee asked me to come to see her parents so that they would get to see and know me. I had just proposed to her a few weeks before Christmas.
Having heard a lot of tales about Port Harcourt and the anxiety of traveling that distance to see my would-be inlaws, I ensured that I threaded with care.
After what seemed like an endless journey, I finally landed in Port Harcourt. The next taxi would take me to Tansi Avenue, the residence of my fiancee. As a Lagos boy, I decided not to tell her over the mobile phone that I had already reached PH. It was meant to be a surprise when I eventually reached their house.
The chartered taxi dropped me directly opposite the gate of their home and then zoomed off. It was a reserved area and everyone minded their business. Straight to the doorbell, I pressed.
Ding, Dong.
A young man appeared asking:
Who do you want to see? In the local Hausa intonation.
As I meant to reply to him, the words could not form in my mouth. I just said:
I am from Lagos.
Before I could swallow saliva, he rushed out saying:
Oga welcome. Everyone has been expecting your arrival. He said all these in his typical Hausa intonation.
Then he snapped a bag from me and moved towards the main building and shouting at the top of his voice:
He is here, he is here.
I expected that my fiancee should have come out, at least to welcome me. But she was nowhere to be found. When I reached the main building and sat on the sofa, the picture frame hanging on the wall had some strange pictures, totally different from what Gina, my fiancee had shown me.
In expectation of the next event, a tall guy, almost my age emerged from the stairs, staring at me while I stared back. In my mind, I contemplated if I was in the right place or not.
He stretched forth his hand for a handshake. I took it with all humility, almost bowing to him. Then, he said,
You must be Chuka.
Now, here is the trouble. I think I am in the wrong house. I said
No. Isn't this 14 Tansi Amadi Crescent? I asked, with confusion written all over me.
The fair guy laughed, then said:
No! This is 14, Tansi Avenue.
I made to apologize to him but he cut me short.
You must be going to the Egwus.
How he managed to know where I was heading was another shocker. He offered to drive me with my luggage to my right destination.
When we arrived there, the young man whom I later got to know was a cousin to my fiancee, narrated my ordeal.
I mistook the name of the street for another.
My fiancee made fun of it. We laughed over it and the familiarization with my inlaws went smoothly before we both returned to Lagos to prepare for our wedding.
You were very lucky that you encountered decent folk on your visit to the wrong address; a lot more could’ve gone wrong. Thank you for sharing your experience with us on The Ink Well.
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You now see me fretting on your behalf. I thought something bad would happen but I'm thankful everything turned out well for you. It's rare to meet decent people when you miss your way so you were quite lucky indeed. Thanks for sharing.✨
I was quite lucky. It was like a destined trip to my inlaws. Everything fell into place.
As it should be.✨
Oh my word, I can just imagine your fiancee must have teased you about that for a long while afterward :)
It really poses a problem when town planners allow similar names, we have a complex at the end of your road, but they used the street name as part of their complex name, so the odd visitor drives right past us and end up there, or the post is placed in the wrong postbox, not that there's much post nowadays!
Have a great weekend @mrenglish, and make sure you don't knock on the wrong door :)
Hehe, I won't knock on the wrong door. It is amazing seeing that you are comfortably seated in an apartment where you are a total stranger, and no one can give an account of your presence.
What a bad mistake!
Good thing you met people on your path who didn't lead you down the wrong path. That would have been very unfortunate, you were very lucky.
Haha... This is funny. Thank God he turned out to be your wife's cousin.
Seriously, I could have been thrown out.
Wow lucky you, you could have been in a lot of trouble because the unknown Hausa guy already snatched your bag away, what if you mistakenly entered the area boys house 😂😂😂
He took my bag to the living room like I was a guest they were expecting. Thankfully, I met a calm dude who still helped out.
Haha 😂😂
This is so hilarious honestly! I never expected the end to be that way lol
It did anyways and I am superficially grateful that it didn't go out of hand.